US President Joe Biden announced Thursday an “increase” in military aid to Kyiv with an envelope of nearly $8 billion and new long-range munitions, before receiving his Ukrainian counterpart at the White House while the Kremlin raises the nuclear threat.
• Also read: Change in nuclear doctrine: a “signal” to the West, warns the Kremlin
• Also read: Putin will consider the use of nuclear weapons in the event of a “massive” air attack
“I am announcing an increase in security assistance to Ukraine and a series of additional actions to help Ukraine win this war,” Mr. Biden said in a statement, which however did not mention the green light hoped for by Kyiv to fire long-range missiles manufactured in the United States towards Russia.
President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed this new aid which, according to him, will promote his country’s “victory” in the war waged by Russia.
In addition, President Biden called for a high-level summit to be held in Germany with 50 allied countries of Ukraine “to coordinate the efforts” of these countries in defending Ukraine “against aggression Russian”.
The Ukrainian head of state must be received during the day by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, while the war in Ukraine is once again making its way into the American presidential campaign, with violent criticism from Donald Trump against President Zelensky. The day before, Washington had announced $375 million in military aid to Ukraine.
Mr. Zelensky will present in Washington his “victory plan” aimed at putting an end to the Russian invasion launched on February 24, 2022.
At a time when Kyiv tirelessly seeks to convince the West to let it use long-range missiles against Russian territory, President Putin announced on Wednesday a proposal to change the doctrine of the use of nuclear weapons by Moscow.
This would involve responding to “Russia’s aggression by a non-nuclear country but with the participation or support of a nuclear country,” said the Russian president.
“Specific signal” for Westerners
In a new Russian warning on Thursday, the Kremlin stressed that this change in Russian doctrine should be considered a “specific signal” to the West.
“This is a signal that warns these countries of the consequences of participating in an attack on our country with various means, not necessarily nuclear,” said Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
AFP
In this diplomatic standoff, Mr. Zelensky warned that the Ukrainians would “never” accept a possible peace agreement with Moscow which would be “imposed” on them by the great powers.
On Tuesday, before the Security Council, he urged to “force” Moscow to make peace, provoking a scathing response from the Kremlin: it is “impossible to force Russia into peace”, according to Dmitri Peskov.
Moscow, whose troops have been advancing in recent months against kyiv’s forces, claimed Thursday the capture of Ukraïnsk, a town in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. The conquest of Donbass, the Ukrainian industrial basin which includes the Donetsk region, is President Putin’s “number one priority”.
“Best salesperson”
Volodymyr Zelensky knows well that support for his country is largely suspended following the American presidential election on November 5.
The race promises to be extremely close between Kamala Harris, who promised if she won to continue helping Kyiv, and former Republican President Donald Trump.
If Joe Biden announced measures intended to “accelerate support for the Ukrainian armed forces”, his predecessor recently made a particularly harsh criticism of the Ukrainian president.
“We continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal, Zelensky,” denounced the Republican candidate Wednesday during a campaign meeting.
“Every time he came to our country, he left with $60 billion, I think he’s the best salesman on the planet,” quipped the former president in North Carolina.
A meeting between Donald Trump, very critical of the amounts disbursed by Washington for Kyiv, and the Ukrainian leader was discussed. But this interview risks falling through, according to the American press.
